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Queensland's Gulf Savannah region devastated by fire

BRENDAN TREMBATH: In Queensland fires in the state's north have devastated up to 20 cattle stations in the Gulf country, leaving little or no feed for thousands of cattle.

Heavy rains that usually bring relief this time of year have been patchy. Graziers are looking to the skies but the weather bureau says rain could be weeks away as Nance Haxton reports.

NANCE HAXTON: Lightning sparked the wildfires in the remote Queensland Gulf country back in October. Combined with dry conditions and dense undergrowth that grew in the wake of Cyclone Yasi, they could not be controlled.

Much of the country that went up in flames is so inaccessible the Queensland Fire and Rescue Service could do nothing to stop the fire fronts - some stretching for kilometres.

Etheridge Shire Mayor Will Attwood says they desperately need more rain to ensure the wildfires stay out, and for the thousands of cattle, which now have little or no food.

WILL ATTWOOD: We now start the recovery process of assisting farmers to get back on their feet again. You know assistance with economic programs and those sorts of things.

NANCE HAXTON: He says it could be weeks yet before reliable food sources are renewed after the devastation.

WILL ATTWOOD: They are going to have a fairly large impact, economic impact, on the shire because every grazier that is not able to spend money in the shire, you know, buying groceries and lick (phonetic) and all those sort of things that they do has a knock-on impact all the way down the financial chain.

NANCE HAXTON: Councillor Attwood is grateful for the help from small and large organisations, such as the Atherton Rotary Club which is coordinating donations of hay and molasses, right through to state government emergency assistance.

But despite these efforts the wildfires have taken their toll on graziers such as Belinda Haynes, who runs Kutchera Station about 400 kilometres south-west of Cairns. Since the wildfires burnt out her 250,000 hectare property she has had to hand feed more than 3,000 head of cattle.

BELINDA HAYNES: So they've been getting hay and molasses. Our priority has been to try and keep our cows alive and their calves.

NANCE HAXTON: So what's the next step now - waiting for those monsoons to come?

BELINDA HAYNES: We are sort of all sitting here watching every cloud that passes us by but at the same time I think we are so busy that we are quite consumed in what we're doing so every day is becoming very routine-like until that rain comes and substantial rain comes to be able to take the pressure off us.

NANCE HAXTON: The weather bureau says there is no relief in sight in the short term, with dry south-easterly winds making for ideal fire conditions.

Forecaster Matthew Bass says while some patchy rainfall has come through the Queensland Gulf country, the monsoonal rains are very late this year and look like they won't arrive until late January.

MATTHEW BASS: The south-easterly winds are stronger than we would typically see at this time of year and obviously stronger winds increase the fire danger and coupled with that the lack of rain that we've had so far just means that the grass up there is really cured and dry for this time of year.

And basically those two factors combined plus slightly above average temperatures as well will lead to a much higher fire risk and we're seeing that over pretty much most of Queensland at the moment actually.

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